The opening match on Stadium court featured the first meeting at tour level between World No. 36 Felix-Auger Aliassime and Australian qualifier Adam Walton, making his Master 1000 debut at the Miami Open presented by Itau on Thursday.
Back to winning ways, the Canadian progressed to the second round after recording a 7-5, 6-4 win in a two-hour contest.
After the first-round encounter, he outlined: “I wasn’t doing anything too bad in the first set. I thought he was just playing really well, serving his targets, [playing] high percentage.”
“He was making me work. It was tricky; he was not missing much. But I’m happy with the way I handled it, to come out of a match like this in straight sets to start things off is positive for me.”
Next, he will face off fourth seed Alexander Zverev; the latter leads their series 5-2, having played one another for the last time in 2022 at the Mutua Madrid Open, a quarterfinal match the German took in straight sets.
The Match as It Unfolded
A couple of minutes after Walton took the opening game of the first set, the chair umpire suspended play due to the rain that started to pour over Miami Gardens.
As play resumed, the Australian quickly added pressure over Auger-Aliassime, who fended off two break points in a lengthy second game to level up 1-1.
From there, the set went with serves as Brisbane’s young star saved a break point in the sixth and ninth games, holding a 5-4 lead.
Nonetheless, the 23-year-old found his way into an edgy opener, using his powerful serve and experience, clinically saving three break points while hitting two aces in the 10th game.
Moreover, he would move on to convert his first break point in a crucial 11th game, wrapping up 7-5 in 77 minutes.
The 5-time ATP titlist won 78 percent of the first serve points and 88 percent of his net approaches.
The second set also went with serves throughout an entertaining encounter.
However, Auger-Aliassime turned the tables, breaking to earn the ninth game at 5-4. Until then, neither player had faced a lone break point across the set.
The Canadian, who reached his first Masters 1000 semifinal at the Miami Open in 2019, close out the set 6-4 and the match to progress to the second round.
Furthermore, he finished with 32 winners and 17 unforced errors to the 24-year-old who debuted at a Grand Slam in 2024 at the Australian Open, 11 and 8, respectively.